In a special session starting this weekend, the Texas state legislature will get another chance to pass laws that could make it harder to dispose of some radioactive waste in the state.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has called the special session of the legislature at a time when a privately operated waste disposal company is closer than ever to getting a federal license to store spent nuclear fuel from power plants in the Lone Star State.
Among the items set for debate when the legislature gavels in on Saturday is “[l]egislation reforming the laws governing radioactive waste to protect the safety of Texans, including by further limiting the ability to store and transport high-level radioactive materials in this state,” according to a Thursday news release from Abbott’s office.
NRC staff last week recommended the agency’s executive commission grant Interim Storage Partners (ISP), a joint venture between Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists (WCS) and the U.S. arm of French nuclear services company Orano, a license to build a consolidated spent fuel storage facility at WCS’ site in Andrews County, Texas. An NRC spokesperson told RadWaste Monitor at the time that a final licensing decision should come down in September.
The special session in Texas follows the state legislature’s challenge to NRC, and to ISP’s proposed interim storage site. In a July 23 letter, Texas lawmakers argued that a federal license for ISP’s proposed site would violate federal law. Last month, in an appropriations markup, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) made the same argument.
Some of the language in Abbott’s Thursday statement is identical to that of an ill-fated bill that died in May during the Texas legislature’s regular session. Texas House Bill (H.B.) 2692, proposed in March by state Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R), aimed to ban the storage of high-level radioactive waste in Texas while lowering state fees for low-level waste storage. WCS’s Andrews facility is in Landgraf’s district.
Landgraf’s proposed measure was kicked back into committee in May on procedural grounds, and the Senate-side version of H.B. 2692 never even heard debate. Landgraf said at the time that there had been a “concerted campaign to mischaracterize” his bill.
At deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor it was unclear whether Landgraf would offer his bill again during the special session. Landgraff did not reply to a request for comment on Friday.
Abbott himself is no fan of ISP’s proposed interim storage site. In October, the Texas governor penned a letter to then-president Donald Trump asking for White House intervention to prevent the site from getting a license.
ISP’s proposed site isn’t the only commercial interim storage facility the feds are considering. Camden, N.J.-based Holtec International is also waiting on NRC’s decision for its proposed interim storage site in southeastern New Mexico. A final call on that project, the agency has said, will happen in January.
